FINAL: Villanova 87, Penn 61

Welcome to The Pavillion, as the Penn Quakers (2-5) gets set to do battle with the 21st-ranked Villanova Wildcats (4-1). The starting lineups can be found at the end of this post.

FINAL: Villanova 87, Penn 61

The Quakers played a better second half, but it really didn't matter. Villanova let back on the press and coasted to a 26-point victory.

0:31 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 86, Penn 59

Frank Tchuisi tries to dunk on Bernardini, but gets fouled. Then Fisher hits a three to widen the gap a little more.

Another guy from the depths of the bench, Jason Colenda, comes in and the Villanova crowd goes crazy. They chant "it's all over." It's certainly been over for quite some time now. Now a "hey, hey, hey, goodbye"

David Whitehurst was sitting in the first row behind the bench, and even he is gone now.

4:06 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 81, Penn 56

Bernardini hits a couple from the line, but Villanova isn't going to be stopped on the other end. Gaines fouls Reynolds, and that's his fourth.

5:27 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 74, Penn 54

Gaines hits a three, but Penn is still down by a whole lot. Reilly hits yet another three, though. Villanova took off the press, and Penn has really been able to slow it down on the offensive end.

Schreiber fouls an and-1, and he's gone.

7:10 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 73, Penn 47

Reilly, probably the second-best three-point shooter on this team, hits from deep in the corner.

Former NBA coach Larry Brown is in attendance. Sitting in the front row, he catches an errant pass.

Bernardini, back in the game, finally misses a three. Cunningham is starting to get it going (he didn't score in the first half) as he gets a couple baskets to go inside.

9:39 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 69, Penn 43

Kach has really woken up this half, as he not only started playing defense, but gets a transition and-1. Votel now gets a nice block, and Gaines finishes off a tough layup.

Egee gets pushed in the back, and Penn is nearly in the double-bonus. Egee hits two though, and Penn's down only 22 now. Cunningham takes a nice feed for a dunk, though, and Egee forces up a blocked shot amongst the trees.

The theme tonight is, for some reason, Christmas. The Wildcat mascot has a Christmas hat on, and the "fan of the game" is wearing Christmas lights.

11:58 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 64, Penn 37

If only the Quakers could shoot free throws... Reilly is fouled, but misses the one-and-one. Yes, it's seven minutes in and Villanova has as many fouls.

Egee hits Votel inder the basket, but gets rejected by Pena. Egee returns the favor, though, by rejecting Reynolds on the other end of the floor.

It is absurd how many contests the Pavillion has during each break. There was a half-court shot for a 2-year lease on a Range Rover, a few more shooting contests and even a golf contest. The winner of the golf event got a free Taylor Made driver and bag. Good stuff.

13:55 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 64, Penn 37

Reynolds makes a nasty move in the lane, but Reilly answers with a nice pass from Gaines.

Kach gets blown past by Fisher, but Schreiber throws the weak shot into the second row. He's been replaced int he starting lineup by Reilly, but is still a valuable piece on the inside for his defense.

Now, Bernardini hits a fourth three in a row, but Reynolds answers with one of his own.

15:54 to go in the 2nd, Villanova 55, Penn 31

Gaines twice drives and twice hits Bernardini for a wide open three, one in each corner. These two have hooked up a bunch in the second half of previous games this year.

The Quakers stayed in the locker room for a real long time, perhaps a nice little tongue-lashing.

Grandieri gets blocked real bad bu Cunningham, but Bernardini hits yet another three, he's drained three now in the first three minutes of the half.

Cunningham finally ends the scoring drought for the Wildcats with a two over Reilly.

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Halftime Stats

Penn is shooting 6-23 from the field, and 2-10 from beyond the arc. The Quakers have 20 turnovers, compared to Villanova's 10. The leading scorer for Penn is Grandieri, with 6 points. Bernardini has 5, and Gaines has 4. Eggleston has played 18 minutes, more than anyone else on Penn. Gaines and Cohen have each played 10 minutes, Kach has played 8 minutes, Bernardini also played 10 minutes, Reilly played 12 minutes, and Grandieri played 14 minutes.

Villanova is doing everything right, shooting 18-30 from the field and 6-11 from beyond the arc. Scottie Reynolds put up 14 in the first half in only 10 minutes of action, while Corey Fisher had 13. Pena chipped in 9 points and had 5 boards.

Also, in a shocker, Harvard came away with the victory at Michigan, 62-51. Quite a homecoming for Amaker. And the brilliant security at Villanova has finally decided to close the gym doors, meaning we're back to a normal temperature. This game was pretty much over from the minute it tipped off. Let's see if Penn can close the margin a little bit here in the 2nd.

Halftime, Villanova 53, Penn 22

Just for fun, Jay Wright put Corey Fisher back in at the end of the first half, and he swished a 3 immediately. When he was in the game this half, he played outstandingly, as did Pena, Scottie Reynolds and Malcolm Grant. There are simply no weaknesses in this Villanova team, and it has demonstrated incredible depth. We'll be back in just a bit with the halftime stats - they're not going to be pretty to look at if you're a Penn fan. 1:48 to go in the 1st, Villanova 48, Penn 22

At this point, it's worth noting that Villanova is playing a lot of its reserves right now. Penn has Remy Cofield in the game to provide some much needed athleticism - Cofield just went up strong for a tough layup to cut Nova's lead to 26. Still, Nova's lead is 26 without Reynolds out on the floor, and it looks like the Wildcats bench could beat up on just about anyone in the Ivy League. Where are Mark Zoller and Ibby Jaaber when you need them?

3:47 to go in the 1st, Villanova 44, Penn 20

Brian Grandieri is starting to get the Quakers going a little bit. With Kevin Egee in the game, Penn finally managed to set up the offense successfully, and Egee found Grandieri wide open in the left corner for a 3. At the other end, Grandieri stole a pass and took it the other way, drawing the foul. Penn is still having a very tough time rebounding the basketball, but it's starting to play a bit better. The Quakers' interior defense hasn't been terrible in the past few minutes either.

In other news, Harvard is giving Michigan a good game in Tommy Amaker's return to Michigan, and Drexel got destroyed by Creighton.

7:19 to go in the 1st, Villanova 44, Penn 15

Even when Penn plays well on defense, Villanova still manages to get to the basket and score. After Bernardini blocked Fisher, Villanova got it right back off the inbound, set up a play, and got to the line for a pair of free throws. Harrison Gaines can't get much going for Penn right now - again, no one on Penn is showing any signs of life. Malcolm Grant is starting to heat up for Nova. He just had an absolutely ridiculous crossover dribble move and drove the lane for a reverse layup. There's a reason Villanova's ranked 21st in the country. They are playing outstanding basketball right now. We might have cheesesteaks before the end of the 1st half at this rate.

On a separate note, Penn's band is here, but they're isolated in the rafters of a packed Pavillion. You can barely hear them. It's also absolutely freezing in this gym, as they've left the doors open on what is a very chilly night in Philadelphia. Penn certainly isn't making it any warmer in here.

10:00 to go in the 1st, Villanova 35, Penn 10

Penn is playing terribly, and Villanova is playing unbelievably. Corey Fisher has been lighting it up from downtown, hitting two consecutive threes to extend Villanova's lead. Penn just can't get set on the offensive end, and defensively, it is no match for the more athletic and talented Wildcats. Penn has now gone to a press of its own and managed to force a turnover and score off of it to get into double digits. Nobody is stepping up for Penn, and the Quakers are turning the ball over left and right, from bad passes to a carrying violation on Aron Cohen.

13:01 to go in the 1st, Villanova 21, Penn 4

Cam Lewis had a nice block inside, but then he couldn't handle the ball in trying to break Villanova's press, turning the ball over. Now Antonio Pena is taking over for the Wildcats. He just threw down an emphatic dunk in Cam Lewis' face to give the Cats a 20-4 lead. This is getting ugly. On the previous possession, Pena knocked down a 3 - he can play inside and outside. After the dunk, Miller called a timeout to talk things over. Penn is really struggling with Nova's press. Now Scottie Reynolds is back in the game, and Andreas Schreiber is in for Cam Lewis.

15:59 to go in the 1st, Villanova 13, Penn 3

Scottie Reynolds has been nothing short of dominant in the early going, scoring Villanova's first seven points. Penn is having a tough time putting up with Villanova's constant pressure, and the Quakers are turning the ball over frequently. The only bright spot thus far for Penn was a nice dribble move by Harrison Gaines, who freed himself up to hit a midrange jumper . Mike Kach just got stuffed by Dante Cunningham. Aron Cohen is now running the point, and Cameron Lewis is in as well.

Penn

G Tyler Bernadini G Harrison Gaines G Brian Grandieri F Jack Eggleston F Justin Reilly

Villanova

G Scottie Reynolds G Corey Fisher G Reggie Redding F Dante Cunningham C Casiem Drummond